The Vasarhelyi method of child art psychotherapy: an adjunctive treatment in childhood depression

We describe the use of child art psychotherapy (CAP) following the Vasarhelyi method in an 11-year-old female with a history of anxiety and depression which limited her capacity to attend school and in a 15-year-old male who had a history of depressive symptoms with suicidal thinking. In each case, the use of other therapies such as cognitive behaviour therapy was not possible or unsuccessful. Through the creation of images, each young person revealed concerns which had not been previously verbalised, and recovery was linked in time to the revelation of these worries. We propose the use of the Vasarhelyi method of CAP as an adjunctive treatment of depression in young people.     

Embodied Cultural Cognition: Situating the Study of Embodied Cognition in Socio‐Cultural Contexts

Embodiment research has demonstrated that cognition is grounded in bodily interactions with the environment and that abstract concepts are tied to the body’s sensory and motor systems. Building upon this embodiment perspective and advancing our understanding, we discuss the extension of embodied cultural cognition. We propose that some associations between bodily experiences and abstract concepts are not randomly formed; rather, the development of such associations is situated in a socio‐cultural context, informed by cultural imperatives, values, and habits. We draw evidence supporting this view of embodied cultural cognition in body–mind linkages manifested in construal of emotions, time perception, person perception, social power, and moral reasoning. To further extend this research avenue that synthesizes the studies of embodied cognition and culture, we also suggest potential future research directions inspired by this view. This embodied cultural cognition account is useful in understanding and organizing accumulating discoveries of cultural variations in embodiments; it also highlights the social situatedness of embodied cognition and is, therefore, highly compatible with theorizing and research in social and cultural psychology.     

Understanding depressed mood in the context of a family-oriented culture

This study examined the contribution of individual and family variables to depressive symptoms among youths in a family-centered culture. Participants were 262 Mexican adolescents (mean age = 15.9 years). At the individual level, gender (being female) and higher levels of perceived stressfulness of life events and ruminative coping style were correlated with higher frequency of depressive symptoms. At the family level, higher levels of perceived parental warmth and acceptance and parental monitoring were correlated with lower levels of depressed mood, whereas higher levels of parent-adolescent conflict were associated with greater frequency of depressive symptoms. Regression analyses confirmed our prediction that both individual factors (gender, ruminative coping) and family factors (parental warmth and parental monitoring) would make unique contributions to depressive symptoms. The model comprised of individual and family variables accounted for 50% of the variance in depressed mood. Moreover, parental warmth and acceptance attenuated the impact of ruminative coping style on adolescents' depressive symptomatology. Findings are discussed in relation to previous research on adolescents in another family-centered culture (China), and directions for future research are proposed.